The Packer Tax and How I Could Better Use my Forced Donation

I live in Brown County. Despite the fact that I voted "no" on the Packer stadium tax all those years ago, I still am paying it. And most of the time, the 0.5% sales add-on is not a big deal.

Sometimes it is.

For example: I purchased a netbook last spring. A $300 purchase carries a sales tax of about $1.50 that goes to the Packers. Well, I might have spent twice as much on a hot dog if I could still afford tickets to the games. Not a big deal.

Last summer, because I commute to Appleton to work, we made the decision to buy a more eco-friendly vehicle, both for the gas savings and a slightly smaller carbon footprint. Knowing the tax on a new Honda Fit, even at the bargain $15,000 price would be a lot, we bought the car in Sheboygan. (The dealer down there also HAD a Honda Fit, which was not the case here.) Anyway, I thought I dodged a bullet.

Not so: since I register the car in Brown County, I had to pay the tax. That meant approximately $800 forcibly donated to a multi-million dollar organization that does NOT need my money. The stadium is finished and payed for.

So, I am humbly proposing that the Packer organization return my money so that I can give it to a cause more in tune with my beliefs. Call it a conscientious objection to professional football or my spirited support of a million better things-- no matter. I want my money back. I have plans for it.

For $800, I could buy enough medication to supply a clinic with my amazing Doctor and the Friends in Haiti for a week, and treat hundreds of people.

For $800, I could more than double the history department budget at my school.

I could feed a child through one of those organizations you see on TV for almost four years.

Meanwhile, my $800 doesn't even cover the fuel for "VIP's" in press boxes to be flown to key games, VIP's who can afford their own tickets.

So how about it, 1265 Lombardi Avenue. Do you really need my cash?

I have a "NO STAMP ACT" teapot I bought in Williamsburg, VA this summer, just waiting to host a party in a waiting Liberty Tree across from the stadium. I don't even need to rent a house. If you have any idea what I am referring to (and you will if YOU paid attention to history) you'll refund my money -- that I have no plans to keep; it will go to Haiti or some other worthy cause -- and save a local from having to dust off her Mohawk ambitions...